The present invention relates to method and apparatus improvements for orienting articles such as bottles or the like which are randomly presented neck first or base first into either all neck first or base first positions.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,101,832 discloses an article orienting system using air blasts to flip improperly oriented bottles end over end on the spirally disposed surface of an upwardly inclined vibrating track conveyor. A light beam-photocell combination detects the orientation of the closely adjacent frequently abutting parts as they move along the track.
Though this system has been employed successfully, it is not without its deficiencies. In the disclosed system, the bottles are not under control while being turned by the dual air blasts and this frequently results in articles falling off the track or being incompletely rotated, the frequency of this often depending on bottle shape. Flipping bottles in the immediate vicinity of the detecting eyes often strike the eye support arms overlying the track and are deflected back to the bottom of the bowl or else reverted back to their initial improperly oriented position. The uncontrolled spacing between successive bottles which frequently results in no such space at all, often does not permit the system to reset after a flip signal such than an improperly oriented article abutting a preceding properly oriented one passes through undetected. Accordingly, the second orientation checking station at the top of the spiral track was ejecting a large percentage of the articles back to the bottom of the bowl for recycling, which, of course, adversely affects the capacity of the system.